Family and Friends
by Erin Cale
Summary: Used to be called "Saying Hello". Jondy shows up with some interesting news for Max and Logan. (Part 3 new)
1. Saying Hello

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Disclaimer: Dark Angel is not mine. Please don't sue.

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Author's Notes: For once, not a major shippy fic! If you have an idea for the title, e-mail me at scifi_shipper@hotmail.com

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Feedback: Please! I haven't even run through this since I wrote it. I need criticism.

Untitled

By Erin Cale

Logan and Max looked up from their lunch as they heard someone knocking at the door. Logan tried to wheel away from the table but Max was already halfway there.

"I'll get it," she called over her shoulder. Logan followed more slowly and stopped a couple meters from Max. She opened the door carefully. Logan heard her inhale sharply and ask, "Do I know you?"

"Maybe, maybe not," came the noncommittal reply. Logan recognized the feminine voice immediately, but didn't say anything. The woman continued, "I'm a friend of Logan Cale's. He still lives here, right?"

"Of course. Come in. "Max's voice was full of suspicion, but she opened the door wider and let the woman come in. The latter nodded politely to Max then she looked around for Logan. When she saw him her eyes widened in shock.

"Logan! What happened?!" she exclaimed.

"It's a long story, Jolene... one I feel like telling right now."

Jolene looked at Max then back to Logan, her shoulder length red hair bouncing with the motion. "Well, if you're not going to tell me, then aren't you even going to introduce us?"

Logan blinked in surprise, as if just remembering that the two women didn't know each other. "Of course. Max Guevera, this is Jolene Desmond. Jolene, Max.

Jolene held out her hand and Max shook it firmly. "For lack of originality, my friends just call my Red."

Max nodded, looking slightly confused. "I can't get over the feeling that I know you from somewhere."

"Well, I know you," Jolene said, an enigmatic smile on her face. "Even though I'm glad to know you're still alive, I came here to talk with Logan. You may listen if you want. It may help to explain some things for you" Jolene walked over to the couch and sat down. Max followed, sitting on the other end, making sure to keep her eyes glued to this stranger. Logan wheeled over and came to a stop a few feet from Jolene. His look prompted her to begin.

"Alright, Logan, I get the hint," she said, rolling her eyes in mock exasperation. "After we broke up, I started checking into a place called Manticore." Max and Logan looked at each other, intrigued by their companion's statement. Jolene ignored them and continued, "I didn't find out too much on the X5s, but I found some information on the earlier generations, including the X1s. It seems that one mother escaped while still early in her pregnancy with an X1. You taught me too well, Logan because I was able to find out who she was and where she lived after she escaped. Jolene paused to take a deep breath and slow down. "Now here's the thing. I found out what she named her child, and I was even able to obtain a photo from the hospital records." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a wrinkled copy of a baby picture. "His name is Logan. The woman who escaped from Manticore went by the name Emma after she escaped."

"My mother," Logan whispered.

*

"But that's impossible. There is nothing superhuman about me."

"That's because your mother escaped so early. Your mother managed to leave before they could do too much to you."

"Is there a reason that you're telling him this?" Max asked, still unnerved by the fact that this woman knew about Manticore at all.

"Actually, yes," Jolene replied without turning around. "You see, they didn't do too much to him, but they did give him an extra gene sequence that they didn't put in the others and they haven't been able to recreate since."

"What's so special about it?" Logan asked.

"It stops the seizures. That's the only recurring fault in every one of the X series. Lydecker wants his runaway X5s back, but he wants you back even more. You're the key to him creating the ultimate super-soldier." Jolene looked him in the eye. "Logan, he's after you. They stumbled onto my research. I'm a day ahead of him, two at the most. You need to leave, now."

Max looked at Logan as he gestured to his wheelchair. "I'm not going to be able to go anywhere very fast."

"So? I'll take you to Canada for the summer. If you absolutely must return here, we can come back after they've tired of watching your house. But it would still be safer to move into some other apartment.. I'll even help you move your stuff. In fact, from the way you've been staring at Max the entire time I've been here, I'd suggest moving in with her." Jolene smiled at the blush that spread like wildfire across Logan's face.

"Wait a minute," Max said, pretending to ignore that last comment. "When you first came here, you referred to Manticore like it was something that both you and he are familiar with."

"Well, I assumed that he was familiar with it since he knows you and you're probably looking for your siblings. You'd need the help of an expert hacker."

"Hacker?!" Logan exclaimed.

"And how are _you_ familiar with it?" Max continued.

"Imagine me ten years younger with a close-cropped hair cut."

Max squinted as she tried to picture the woman with the physical alterations.

"Jondy?"

She smiled and stood up. "Well, we need to get going."

"What about Bling?"

"Bling?"

"Yes," Logan said. "Bling is my physical therapist and my friend. I don't want Lydecker finding that out and torturing or killing him."  
"Ahh. He'll also have to disappear for a while. Tell me his address and I'll go get him."

Logan wheeled over to his desk and opened one of the drawers. He pulled out a card and handed it to Jondy. She looked at for a brief instant, then she tossed it back to Logan. 

"Aiight. Be back."

As the door closed, Logan looked back at the now-cold food still sitting on the table. He mumbled in a low voice (so low that even Max's genetically-engineered ears almost didn't catch it), "Guess lunch is over."

*

Jondy returned twenty minutes later with Bling in tow. "Honey, I'm home!" she yelled. Bling addressed Logan as soon as he appeared from his bedroom.

"What's going on?" Bling asked.

"It's a long story, but it ends with anyone familiar with me should get out of town." Max walked up beside him as he finished talking. She looked to Jondy.

"We should split up or at least separate into pairs."

"No. Our mission right now is to protect Logan. If he gets caught, Lydecker wins. We can't separate... except for leaving town, that is. It'll look weird if Rich Boy here just up and leaves. Bling will go home, you two will pick him up there. I'll be in the nearby alley and I'll walk by as you're leaving. You'll role down the window, asking me-by my alias, of course- if I need a ride. From there, we'll follow a zigzag course to Canada."

Max considered the plan for a moment, then nodded. Bling and Jondy left together, acting as if they had just had a lovely chat with Logan (for any nosy neighbors). After watching them start down the stairs, Max turned back to Logan. He sighed and moved over to the bookcase. There, he pulled out a book and threw the money he found inside to Max, saying, "Well, we're going to need some money. After I finish getting the rest of what I've hidden around here we'll go out to the car."

"Well, I've got to call Original Cindy and have her cover for me."

Logan smiled at her, thinking of how Normal would react if he knew the _real_ reason Max wasn't coming in to work.

Jondy watched Bling as he walked into the building. After he had been inside enough time, she walked to a nearby phone. She picked up the phone and hit its base, satisfied when she heard a dial tone. She dialed in the number for Zack's voice message system.

"Please leave your message after the tone."

"This is Jondy. I need as much help as I can get. Lydecker's trapped me and is closing in on my position. I'm going to make a run for the Crossroads Inn in Chicago, but he's close enough to me to follow me there. I am requesting assistance."

She hung up, hit the phone again and dialed another number. "This is Jondy," she repeated. "I believe that they will follow me to the Crossroads Inn in Chicago. I'm already with Max, the X1 and a civilian who knows him. Proceed with caution." She hung up and moved into the shadows just as Logan's car came into view. Bling came out a minute later and got in with the other two. Jondy left the safety of the darkness and walked by as planned.

Max rolled down the window and said, "Hey Jolene, need a ride?"

"Sure, Jondy replied with a smile. "That would be great."

*

"Take the next exit. I know a place where we can crash for the night," Jondy said as she looked out the window. She looked at the sign over the Interstate as they passed by. It said _Chicago: 1 mile_. She smiled to herself. This would be fun.

"What's the smile for?" Bling asked from his seat beside her. It was the first sentence he had spoken since they'd told him the full story of Manticore.

"Just some old memories of this place. When I escaped, this is where I ended up. I spent about three years here after that."

"Oh."

Max looked at her siblling over her shoulder. "So, what else has happened in your life?"

"Well, I changed my name immediately after I escaped, and again after the Pulse, just to be safe. I lived in an orphanage, then in two foster families, neither of which was a particularly pleasant experience for me. I dated Logan when I arrived in Seattle a few years back. He thought I was a lot older than I actually was. It was about that time that Zack found me and gave me his voice mail number."

"Really?" Max interrupted. "He wouldn't give it to me."

Jondy rolled her eyes. "That's because he likes you and he's afraid of what he might do if you truly need his help." Max averted her gaze and when Logan quickly looked at her, he saw a faint blush spreading across her cheeks. "Anyway," Jondy continued, "That's my life. And you?"

"Nothing much until I settled in Seattle. I made a new life there and tried to live like a normal person."

"Except for the stealing," Logan interjected.

"Hey, a girl's gotta make a living somehow," Max replied. "Anyway, that's how I met the caped crusader here. I was trying to steal his statue. Ever since, I've been helping him try to save the world."

"In return for what?" Jondy asked with a sly smile.

"He helps me look for the others... and he cooks for me sometimes.:

"Ah yes, the famous Cale cuisine. She pointed over Logan's shoulder at a small inn and he pulled into the driveway. "I see why you stick around." Logan parked the car and they all got out. Jondy looked up at the gathering clouds, then at the roof of the inn. She was satisfied when her pupils dilated and she could see Zack watching her closely. For him, she made a show of looking around cautiously, then quickly following the others as they entered the building.

Once inside, she made sure that each of her companions was settled into his or her room before returning to the short balding innkeeper. "Did you prepare the room?" He nodded and handed her the key. "Thank you."

"The keyhole to the room is behind a painting of a lighthouse," he said. Jondy smiled and nodded in gratitude. Below the desk, where he couldn't see her hands, she took a piece of cloth and a brown vial out of her pocket. She had doused the cloth with liquid from the vial and, before the innkeeper could so much as groan, she had it over his mouth and his body went limp. She looked around to make sure nobody was coming and hefted the body onto her shoulder. She picked up the key and moved quietly into the hallway that branched off the small lobby. She examined the paintings as she passed, finally stopping at the painting that the old man had described. She removed the painting from the wall and inserted the key into the keyhole. A slight turn of her wrist and the wall suddenly transformed into a door. She looked around, dragged the body in and shut the door behind her. She dropped the old innkeeper on one of the two beds in the room and put him in restraints. She pulled open practically all the drawers in the room before finding what she needed. Jondy smiled to herself as she tore off long piece of duck tape and put it over the man's mouth.

"This is going to be _too_ easy," she murmured as she opened the door again and exited the room.

*

Jondy took one more look at the unconscious forms of Logan, Bling and the old innkeeper before shutting the door. "Step 1 is complete," she muttered. She walked back down the hallway to the front desk. There, she picked up the phone and dialed his number. When the ringing stopped, indicating that he had picked up, she said one word. "Now." Almost immediately, she heard the sound of Lydercker's troops surrounding the inn. Next came the sound of breaking bones. Zack and the others had been found. Max ran down the stairs and Jondy gestured to her that they were surrounded. As soon as she took her place beside Jondy, she adopted her fighting stance. If she was going down, she going to take Lydecker and some of his goons with her. Minutes later, Lydecker's men burst through the door, followed by Lydecker himself, followed by still more soldiers- the latter carrying with them the unconscious forms of Zack, Tinga, and four others.

"You've done a good job, soldier," Lydecker said upon seeing Jondy.

Max looked at Jondy in shocked dismay. "What?!"

Lydecker continued, ignoring Max, "You'll be reindoctrinated as soon as we return to base."

"Yes sir." Jondy saluted and Lydecker motioned with one hand toward Max. Two of his soldiers shot their tranquilizer guns at her. Max tried to move out of the way, only to find herself restrained by Jondy. She looked into Jondy's bright green eyes as the felt the tranqs pierce her skin. She would have shivered at the emptiness in them, except that the tranquilizers went into effect. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she sank to the ground.

*

Jondy watched Max collapse, then turned back to Lydecker. Sparing a quick glance over his shoulder, she saw the soldier nearest to the door give her a thumbs up. She turned her gaze back to Lydecker before he had the chance to realize that she had looked away.

"So where is the X1?"

"He is hiding somewhere in this building, sir. I believe he heard me make the phone call and he hid."

Lydecker motioned with his hand and spoke to his soldiers. "Bring me any other people in this building." His loyal subordinates trotted off and Lydecker was left with a small group of soldiers and Jondy. "He's surrounded. He can't go very far."

"Sir," Jondy began, "Permission to speak?"

"Permission granted."

"_You're_ the one who's surrounded, sir."

"What the hell do you mean?" Lydecker asked, suddenly wary of his surroundings.

"Your, uh, guards are with me." As she spoke, the remaining soldiers took Lydecker by the arms and rid him of all his weapons. Jondy approached her former commander and took him by the hair. He growled at her, his face set in that ugly scowl she remembered from training. "I'd tell you to say hi to all my siblings that you killed, except that I believe they're in Heaven and you, _sir,_ are not." With one flick of her hand, Lydecker went limp in the arms of his captors. They dropped his body unceremoniously to the floor.

One of the men spoke, "What now?"

"We still have to take out the rest of Lydecker's goons, then we'll free Logan and the others." The man nodded and Jondy led her followers in pursuit of the other troops. They hadn't gone too far when they saw a soldier come out of one of the rooms and shake his head to another. Jondy watched as the two men gathered with the rest to assign which room would be searched by whom. In a flash, Jondy swung around the corner and plowed into the group, throwing two into the wall and killing them instantly. The others brought out the real guns and shot blindly. However, she was too fast for them and they only succeeded in killing each other. Her followers just watched, in awe of her speed. After she had disposed of Lydecker's goons, she took the key out of her pocket and looked around for the painting. When she found it, she took it off the wall and turned the key in the keyhole. A moment later, she opened the door, only to find all three men conscious and ticked off. She released them and had one of her followers bring in Logan's wheelchair.

As she placed him into the wheelchair, Logan looked her in the eyes and asked, "What did you do Jo?"

"Oh I just saved your girlfriend's ass, not to mention your own, and killed Lydecker. Anything else I can do for you today?"

She had meant it to be sarcastic but Logan took it seriously. "Yes. Take me to Max." She rolled her eyes and wheeled his chair out of the room, followed closely by the former captives and Jondy's supporters. They proceeded down the hallway, choosing to ignore the shocked looks on the faces of Logan, Bling and the old man. By the time they reached the front desk, most of the X5s were starting to wake up. Max was still out, but Zack glared at the group as they came in.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"I used you to create a diversion, and to make sure that Lydecker showed up." Jondy gestured to the corpse laying in the middle of the floor.

"You killed him?"

"No, I slapped him," Jondy replied in a totally deadpan voice.

"You just killed the only person who would have any knowledge of how to fix our defects."

"Uh uh." Jondy rummaged around in Max's jacket, finally bringing out a slender CD case. "Do you honestly think I'm that stupid?" she asked as she stood up. "This just happens to be a copy of everything of importance that was on Lydecker's computer system. It contains genetic profiles for each of us, as well as information on the treatment of almost every defect found in every generation. The only defect that there is no treatment on there for is the seizures. And for that we've got Logan, if he's willing."

Zack's gaze showed his confusion as he looked at Logan but he said nothing. The silence was finally broken by the sound of Max staggering to her feet. She put one hand out on a nearby chair and pulled herself up. Logan moved closer to her, wanting to help but not knowing how. Max carefully leaned on the back of his wheelchair. Once her eyes came in focus, she glared at Jondy. Jondy just pointed to Lydecker's corpse. Max's eyes widened.

"Go on, Logan, take her out of here." Logan, not knowing what to do, followed her command. Max staggered behind him. After they had gone, Jondy turned to the innkeeper. "You too." He hurried out of the building and Zack brought himself into Jondy's range of vision.

"Well?"

"You're good at setting untraceable fires, aren't you, Zack?" Zack nodded, a small jerk of the head that would've been unnoticeable to anyone but a child of Manticore. "Good. Could you finish the job for me?" She gave him her sweetest smile and moved her attention to the soldiers who had followed her so selflessly. "Let's go home." She could feel Zack's eyes on her as she left and for once, she didn't care if he saw fault with her. She was proud of herself for what she had done.

*

Max opened the door as if it weighed more than an elephant. She groaned as Logan started the car. Immediately, the tape in the tape deck started playing.

_"Hey guys. If you're hearing this, then I've finally beaten Lydecker. Hopefully, otherwise, you would have stopped this tape by now because it's too distracting. Anyway, um, I just wanted you to know what I've done and how I did it. Everything I told you was true, I just didn't tell you everything. Lydecker found out about my research after I walked away from my job at Manticore. Don't worry, I didn't work there long enough to go anywhere near the kids and I showed a revulsion towards the horrifying experiments being committed against them. That's why, I guess, he made inquiries into what I researched while I was there. That's how he found out about Logan. _

"I lured Lydecker to Chicago and I asked Zack to come as well. That way, I could get the X2s and X4s that I had located to join me. That way, I could be sure that we'd have enough manpower to defeat Lydecker, no matter how many people he had. I chose the Crossroads Inn because I scouted the owner out while in Chicago a few months ago. He was trustworthy and he needed the insurance money. So, was there anything I left out? Oh, yes. I'll be back... and I luv ya, little sister. 'kay? Bye."

"What was that about the insurance money?" Logan asked.

Max looked back at the disappearing inn. "I don't know," she replied. As she said the last word, she saw a fireball in the side view mirror. 

"Then again, maybe I do."


	2. Saying Goodbye

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Disclaimer: Dark Angel is not mine. Please don't sue.

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Author's Notes: E-mail me at scifi_shipper@hotmail.com with comments, etc. Thank you to those who requested a sequel (even though I never intended to write one). I hope you like this one. Now that I've started with "Saying Goodbye", I'm thinking this will end up being at least a trilogy, maybe a longer series. But that's not definite yet. Tell me what you think. I _should_ call this series the "Max gets knocked out because of her siblings" series, but hey nobody's perfect. :-)

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Warning: Shippier than the last one.

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Feedback: Please! I love constructive feedback. Anything else will be immediately trashed. But (as with the last one) once the ideas started flowing, I didn't have time to go back and revise. So please review.

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Saying Goodbye

By Erin Cale

"Jo! How are you?" Logan smiled as Jondy entered his computer room, but the young woman didn't return the gesture.

"Don't try to fool me Logan. I gave you that number for emergencies only."

Logan's smile immediately faded. After a moment, he replied, "It _is_ an emergency. We need to get you and Max out of Seattle."

Jondy's face momentarily showed her surprise before she was able to regain her composure. "What makes you think I even live here?"

"It's not important," came another voice. Jondy turned around to face the new arrival.

"Zack?"

Her brother looked from her to Logan and back again. "Lydecker's replacement is searching for us, you and Max especially, because you know who he is." Zack jerked his head at Logan. "They've got wanted posters up everywhere with _photos_ of you two."

"How did they get those?" Jondy exclaimed.

"Apparently somebody put a camera on Lydecker. When you killed him, you dislodged it, so whoever it was doesn't know about Logan... yet."

"Good. Do we have an ID on the replacement?"

Zack turned his gaze to Logan again, this time obviously expecting something. Logan wheeled over to his computer and began to open a file. Within a few seconds, several windows had popped up, displaying the requested information. As the computer loaded the picture, Jondy took a deep breath, preparing herself for something horrible. But none of her Manticore training prepared her for who the picture finally depicted.

"Kevin."

***

"They chose an X5 as Lydecker's replacement?"

"He's old enough, he has all the training he needs, he knows how we think because he's one of us and he hates us for leaving him behind," Zack explained.

"But he forced us to do it."

"That's not what his bio says." Zack pointed to a window on Logan's computer. Jondy scanned it, automatically picking out any important words.

"So he does. What now?"

Logan answered before Zack even had a chance to open his mouth. "You and Max need to get out of town. Zack's already prepared a place where you can stay for a while."

"And exactly how do you think you're gonna get Max to go?"

"That's why you and Zack are here. I was thinking that you could talk-" Jondy raised a hand, silently telling him to be quiet. After listening for a moment, she mouthed the words, _Max is coming._ Zack hid while Logan shut off his computer. Jondy headed off to the kitchen, Logan following a second later.

Max had been picking Logan's lock, as usual, when she had heard Jondy say, 'And how do you think you're gonna get Max to go?' She hadn't heard Logan's reply because she had been pondering the reasons why Jondy would be there and what it was that Jondy had been talking about. She looked in the computer room as she entered the apartment. Nobody there. She headed for the kitchen next.

"Get me to go to what?" She asked as she entered the kitchen and sat down next to Jondy. Logan's mouth dropped open and seemed to twitch as he tried to think of a suitable answer.

"Actually, Logan wanted to ask you out on a date, but he didn't know how to put it. So he was gonna run what he was gonna say past me, but you came in," Jondy said.

Max looked at Logan. He was flushed with embarrassment. All of a sudden, Max felt a presence behind her. She started to turn, thinking the person was Bling. Before she caught sight of the individual, she felt a needle being injected into her arm. She was out before she could so much as gasp.

***

"_That's_ how you planned on getting her to go?! I can't believe I allowed myself to get talked into this," Jondy exclaimed, glaring at Zack as he sat in back with Max's unconscious body. It was the first sentence she had spoken since leaving the apartment.

"You know she would never have come willingly. She's perfectly fine with risking her life to stay with her friends. And if Kevin finds either of you, he's going to find out who the X1 is. Then nobody will be able to stop Manticore."

Jondy sighed and turned to Logan. "Did _you_ know about this?"

Zack replied for Logan. "Actually, he wanted us to _talk_ with her, convince her to go."

"At least one of you is kind." Zack gave her an unreadable look, but she ignored him and again addressed Logan, "What is the number for Jam Pony?"

Logan handed her his cell phone. "It's in the memory." 

"And what's the name of her friend that works there?"

"Original Cindy," he replied.

Jondy found the number and dialed it. "Hello, to whom am I speaking? Ah. Well, Mr. 'Normal' I would like to talk with the young woman who delivered a package to me a couple of days ago. I believe she was called Cindy."

"_Original_ Cindy," Logan whispered.

"Original Cindy, sorry. You will? Thank you sir." She handed the phone to Logan. "He's getting her now. You know her, you explain."

Logan took the phone from Jondy and waited until Cindy picked up. "Hi Cindy, this is Logan. Yeah. Max, Zack and I are getting out of town for a while. No, I don't know how long. Yeah, she needs you to cover for her. Thanks. Bye." He put the phone away just as they pulled up to a checkpoint.

A guard motioned for them to open their trunk. Logan complied immediately. Carefully Zack, Jondy and Logan watched the guard to make sure he didn't steal anything. Finally, after 5 minute of searching, the guard waved them on.

"How much farther?" Jondy asked.

"About 17 miles," Logan replied.

"Good." She went back to watching the road.

"You want some music?" Logan asked.

"Sure. I know this radio station that plays good music all the time." Jondy hit the power button and pressed the tuning button until she found her station. As soon as the song came on, she joined in. "Your beauty is beyond compare, with flaming locks of auburn hair, ivory skin and eyes of emerald green..." She paused and said, "Now you're going to know why I changed my name to Jolene." She started in with the chorus, "Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, I'm begging of you please don't take my man."

As she paused to take a breath Logan interrupted. "I had forgotten how beautiful your voice was."

"Thank you. As I recall, you're not so bad yourself."

Logan smiled briefly. "I'm out of practice. It's been a long time."

"We'll have to fix that when we get to your 'safe house'."

Logan smiled again, but said nothing.

***

Max woke up to the sound of someone pacing. Opening her eyes carefully, she observed Jondy moving back and forth, her partially-feline DNA obviously at the forefront.

"Damn him!" Jondy growled.

"Damn who?" Max asked, sitting up slowly.

"Ahh, sleeping beauty awakens." Jondy looked out the window at the pouring rain. "Our brother, that's who."

"What did Zack do this time?"

"He's locked us in here while he goes off to save Tinga."

Max filed the last bit of information away for later use. "Haven't you tried kicking down the door?"

"I would have already if I didn't know what he put out there. He put bombs under the walkway and surrounding the house. He also set up some guns outside that are triggered by the door opening. Once that happens-" Jondy imitated shooting a gun, "boom."  
"So if Kevin finds out where we are and comes to get us, he's fried. And if we go out there, _we're_ fired."

Jondy shrugged, "Basically."

"Well, maybe we could find another way out," Max said, holding her head as she thought out the possibilities.

"Right. What are we going to do, jump through the roof and fly away?"

"We could _try_, couldn't we?"

Jondy finally turned to look at her sister. "Oh, you're _not_ serious."

"I'm not?" Max's eyebrows came together in mock confusion. "Coulda sworn I was."

"First of all, you just woke up from being knocked out by Zack. Second of all, Kevin has people looking for us."

"In case you haven't forgotten, they're looking for us in order to get to Logan." Max glared at her sister.

"Well in case _you_ haven't forgotten, going to Logan now would be signing his ticket back to Manticore."

Max's look changed from one of anger to one of sadness. "I just have a feeling that something is going to happen to him if we're _not_ there."

"Girl, that's called love." Jondy sat down next to her sister and put her hand on Max's shoulder. "Listen, if you're really that... apprehensive about his welfare, I'm willing to help you get out of here."

***

"Brin, Liz, Robin, Sean. I have selected you to be my team for the retrieval of the X1 that Lydecker spent much of his life searching for."

"Permission to speak, sir?" Brin stepped forward a little.

"Granted."

"You have additional information as to where he is located?"

"Yes. X5-452 has been reported to appear in the high-rise district of Seattle several times in the last year. I believed him to be living there, so I sent a team out to do reconnaissance. Now that they've confirmed that he does live there, I'm taking you in to retrieve him."

"Yes sir," Brin replied and stepped back in line.

"Good. The vehicle is already outside."

***

Max and Jondy climbed through the window and silently landed in his living room. "He shouldn't leave that window open," Jondy whispered. Max didn't answer as she crept towards the doorway to his computer room. Hearing squeaking behind her, she whirled around in her fighting stance.

"What are you two doing here?" Logan exclaimed.

Jondy answered first, "We had a feeling that something was wrong."

"Well, as you can see everything is fine. You two shouldn't be here." Almost as one, Jondy and Max lifted their heads and listened to something Logan couldn't hear.

"Looks like we should be," Jondy said, getting into her fighting stance as well. Now Logan _could_ hear something. It sounded like one person was outside his door, another was in his living room... Logan gave up trying to figure out where the sounds were coming from and quickly wheeled into his computer room. Opening a drawer, he pulled out the gun that he was, only a few months earlier, going to kill himself with. Now he was going to use it to save his life and those of Max and Jondy. He loaded it and hurried back to his companions. 

They each seemed to be listening to a different sound. Their eyes moved so quickly as to become blurry to Logan's all-too-human ones as they furiously tried to see what was causing the disturbances. He raised his gun and pointed it out in front of him. Almost immediately, he heard a noise above his head. His gun was knocked out of his hand by a woman dropping out of his ceiling. It skidded across the floor and finally came to a stop under his table.

Max would have taken a shot at the woman who had attacked Logan, but she was held back by another of the intruders. Swinging around, she barely blocked a punch to her stomach. Hazarding a quick look at Jondy, Max saw that her sister had her own problems. Three more X5s were landing painful blows to Jondy's body. Jondy tried to fight back, but against two of her own she was starting to fail.

Max knocked her attacker to the floor just as Jondy hit the ground, her head making a hollow sound as it hit the corner of the table. Out of the corner of her eye, Max saw another X5 drop out of the ceiling and take Logan hostage. Now the choice was between helping her sister or her friend. Seeing that her sister's attackers had turned their attention toward her, she ran forward, launched off the wall, and flipped over her attackers. Because of their revved-up DNA, they managed to catch her in mid-air. She took advantage of their move and brought her feet down against two of them, knocking them onto the floor. The third caught her leg as she swung at him and flipped her to the ground. Turning her head, she saw that her first attacker was picking herself up off the floor.

"Robin!" Max turned her head toward the voice, as did those of the intruders. Jondy was on her feet, her head bleeding profusely as she held the gun in slightly shaky fingers. The X5 holding Logan looked up at the sound of her name. "Even if you _were_ my best friend, I will kill you." Max's mind remembered an incident back at Manticore, when Jondy had saved Robin's life. The two had been friends from then up until the escape. Now here she was, threatening to kill her once-best friend. Her attackers picked themselves up off the floor as the tense silence continued. Robin let go of Logan and stepped away. She looked at Jondy for a moment, then charged at her.

Jondy fired, the bullet hitting Robin square in the chest. Robin's body collapsed as Jondy's senseless hands managed to put the gun on the table. Seeing her vulnerability, two of the X5s swung at her. Both punches were deflected, one by Zack and one by Tinga. As Max's attacker left her to fight the newcomers, Max saw her chance. She flipped to her feet and whipped around to land a solid blow on her attacker's leg. Her attacker fell to one knee and she was about to kill him when she heard one of the intruders call out, "Retreat." The four remaining X5s hurried out of the apartment. Jondy's legs weakened and she was about to collapse when Tinga caught her.

"What happened?" Tinga asked.

"Long story," Max replied. "How did you know we were here?"

"Educated guess. When I returned to the safe house to get you and I found you were gone, I figured you'd be here," Zack answered.

Max returned her attention to Jondy, who was still bleeding from her head wound. "Do you think she'll be okay?" Max asked Tinga.

"I don't know. She's hurt pretty badly." 

Jondy heard the voices, but couldn't understand what they were saying. All she could think was that she had killed her sister, her best friend. If she was going to die, then she felt she deserved it for doing what she had done. The eyes started to close of their own accord and she barely managed one last look at Robin's body before they finally closed.

***

"Now you _need_ to move. Kevin knows where you live and who you are. You need to move somewhere else and change your identity," Jondy said, her bandaged head barely hidden under her hat. She waved to the waiter for more coffee, then turned her attention back to her companion.

Logan shook his head. "I can't."

"Why not?" Jondy asked, calling his bluff.

"I... I just can't, that's all."

"Logan, if you want to keep Max safe, you have to get out of Seattle. I've got a summer house you can stay in until you get more permanent arrangements."

"A summer house? You?" Logan asked, obviously trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah. I came up with something, got a patent for it. You know."

"Ahh." Logan fell into a contemplative silence. Finally he said, "Alright. When do we leave?"

"As soon as possible. If I know Kevin, he'll be back with an entire army."

"Okay. Do I have time to say my goodbyes first?"

"Of course. I'll be waiting for you outside your apartment." The waiter brought their check and Jondy put a twenty down on the table. "Come on."

The two friends left the restaurant and got into Logan's car. The ride back to Logan's apartment was silent. They finally stopped the car and took the elevator up to his floor. Jondy helped take a few things down to the car then stayed there while Logan paged Max for the last time.

When Max got there, she saw Jondy waiting in Logan's car. She smiled at her sibling, but Jondy only gave her small wave in return. Worried by Jondy's reaction, Max hurried up to Logan's apartment. 

"Logan? Logan?!" Max yelled. Logan wheeled out from his bedroom with a sad look on his face.

"I'm here."

"What is it? And why do you have that look on your face?"

"Max," Logan began, motioning for Max to sit down on the couch, "I. don't know how to put this, but I'm going to try. Jondy thinks I should move out of Seattle."

Max was speechless for a moment. When she finally managed to get something out, she could only say, "Are you going to?"

"I have to." Logan put his hand under her chin and forced her to look at him. "I don't want to be a danger to you."

"I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself," Max whispered, her voice almost pleading.

"I don't want to take a chance, not with you." Logan and Max moved closer, as if drawn together by some cosmic thread. Their lips touched sweetly, a gentle goodbye. When Max pulled away, she took a moment to memorize his face, his gorgeous eyes, his cute glasses, the beginnings of a beard.

"Here," Logan said, handing her a package. "I want you to have this. But I don't want you to open it until you get home." She held the package in her trembling hands. He looked at her one last time. "Goodbye." With that, he wheeled out of his apartment and into the elevator. Max moved into the living room and watched as Logan's car drove away. When it had finally moved out of her field of vision, she started home.

It took only a few minutes to get from his home to hers, but to Max it seemed an eternity. By the time she had gotten into her apartment and collapsed on her bed, she had totally forgotten about his package. Picking it up from where she had dropped it, she carefully opened the paper that it was wrapped in. She gasped when she saw the picture frame that was hidden inside. For the photo, he had picked one that had been taken at his cousin's wedding. He was sitting in his chair in his tux and she was in a chair beside him with her head on his shoulder, obviously acting the part of Logan's girlfriend.

As she looked at the picture, she remembered what Jondy had said. _Girl, that's called love._ She curled up on her bed and fell into a rare nap, with the picture frame right next to her.


	3. Reunions

****

Disclaimer: Dark Angel isn't mine. The character of Lily _is _and the physical characteristics of Jondy (since D.A. has only mentioned her name, never described her) are.

****

Author's Notes: You know, this all started because some of the people (actually, quite a few) said they wanted more. I wasn't planning to make an entire series out of this, but it has become my most-reviewed story (out of the five stories I have on the Net), so I humored the fans. This is the third part of the series, as yet untitled.

****

Archiving: Sure, just ask first.

Reunions

By Erin_Cale

__

Max sighed and stood up. From her point of view, she could see all of Seattle. From up here, it seemed like a prosperous city, the way it must have looked before the Pulse. But Max only had to look at the Space Needle to see the graffiti that covered almost every inch of it. Max knew a lot about the dark side this city. She had seen it far too many times, especially when she had been working for Logan. Speaking of Logan, she had heard of neither him nor Jondy for the past year. Had something happened to them? Before her mind could take her any farther down that memory lane, Max forced herself to leave her perch and head for work.

***

As Max entered Jam Pony, she noticed a new guy talking with Normal. She saw Normal nod reluctantly then shout, "Sketchy, you just volunteered."

"For what?" Sketchy asked.

"New employee needs a guide to show him the ropes."

"All right," Sketchy replied, his voice betraying neither anticipation nor dread.

The new guy brought his bike over to where Sketchy was, waiting for his training to begin. Max followed and offered her hand in greeting when he turned to look at her. "Hi. I'm Max."

"I'm Josh." His voice was surprisingly soft, barely more than a whisper. He tugged his cap down tighter on his head and gave her a small smile.

"You don't look like a 'Josh'," Max said, noticing that if Josh were wearing glasses, he'd look a little bit like Logan. Josh chuckled and shrugged, as if to say that his name wasn't his fault. She smiled, then addressed Sketchy. "You goin' to Crash tonight?"

"Yeah." Sketchy turned to Josh. "You wanna come?"

"Sure, why not?" I'll just have to stop by my place on the way."

Sketchy had opened his mouth to say something, but Normal interrupted him. "Sketchy, hot run!" The young man barely caught the package that his boss threw at him. Sketchy scanned the address and immediately headed out to make the delivery. Josh followed right behind, quickly waving to Max before disappearing into the street.

Max smiled, then turned to talk to Original Cindy until Normal called her name.

***

Max set down the pitcher of beer in front of her friends. Everyone took their turn pouring their drinks, and Max was about to pour her own, when a ten-year old entered the room.

Josh raised his hand, making sure the girl saw him. As she walked over he asked in a voice only a fraction louder than normal, "Lily, where have you been?"

The girl smiled and set a fistful of money in front of Josh. "Arm wrestling," she said simply.

"Who were you that you got that much mad money?" Original Cindy asked, looking at the large amount of twenties in the pile.

"No." Lily laughed. "I bet each person one dollar that I could beat them. Then I changed the ones for bigger bills."

"So how do you know her Josh?" Herbal asked.

"She's my daughter." Josh seemed to realize something then said, "Oh, I almost forgot. Lily these are my new friends: Max, Herbal, Original Cindy and Sketchy. Everybody, this is Lily. The reason that I had to stop by my place before coming here was so I could tell Lily where I'd be."

Max looked at the two of them, seeing that Lily was slightly darker than Josh and had different color eyes. "She must take after her mother."

"She does." Josh's face took on a melancholy look. "She died eight years ago."

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's okay."

Lily, obviously seeing that the conversation was going nowhere, took matters into her own hands. "Would you like to arm wrestle with me?"

Max hesitated. "I'm very strong. I'd probably hurt you."

"I doubt that even you could beat me," Lilly replied, knowing the superior tone she was using would force Max to accept the challenge.

"Really?"  
"Really." Lily put one elbow down on the table and extended her hand. Max held back again, but finally did the same.

The competition began. Max's friends gathered around and watched in awe as Lily kept Max's arms from pushing hers down. Even though Max was obviously trying very hard, Lily started inching her arm toward the table.

"You're strong," Lily whispered at a level only Max could hear. "You're a better competitor than every regular human I have faced... X5-452." Max's face showed brief surprise but she was almost immediately pulled back to reality when Lily slammed her arm down onto the table. Max got up, rubbing her sore arm.

"I hope I haven't hurt your arm," Lily said, what seemed to be genuine concern showing on her face.

"I'll get over it."

Josh hugged Lily and said in his characteristically soft voice, "See?"

"Wow!" Sketchy exclaimed. "She is good!"

"Yeah," Max remarked. "I know."

***

A couple of weeks later, Max was resting in her bed when she heard a noise from the living room portion of her apartment. Careful not to make any sound herself, Max got out of bed and stalked into the kitchen. There she saw Lily, who was obviously waiting for her.

"Took you long enough," Lily said jokingly.

"I'm a heavy sleeper."

"I didn't think X5s slept."

Startled and more than a little wary of the girl, Max changed the subject. "So, what are you doing here this late at night?"

"I'm here for Logan." Lily handed her a photo. "It was taken off the security camera at Crash," she explained.

Max examined the photo. It showed her and Josh at Crash. In it, she was watching Josh in an amused manner and Josh was smiling at her. 

"But why would-" Max looked up to find that Lily had disappeared. Slightly disturbed, Max walked back into her bedroom. She put the new photo beside the picture frame Logan had given her before he had left. Thinking a distraction sounded like a good thing at the moment, she decided to go back to Crash and see what she could do about that camera. She got out her motorcycle and brought it downstairs carefully, not wanting to ding or scratch it.

As she passed a shabby restaurant that wasn't too far from her apartment building, she failed to notice the redhead sitting at a small table inside. A man across the street, however, did notice. He spoke softly into a small device.

"I have visual confirmation. Repeat: visual confirmation."

***

Max sat down at her usual table, making sure to sit with her back to the security camera. There she nursed a cold drink and contemplated the day's events. She had been there for about twenty minutes when Josh came in.

"Max?" he asked, his gentle voice barely audible over the din from some drunks by the bar. "What's wrong?"

"You lied to me."

"What?"

"You lied to me about Lily. She never knew her mother... and neither did you."

Josh hung his head. When he spoke, his voice was much louder than his normal whisper. "I should've told you Max. About her and about me."  
Josh's voice, now that it was louder, triggered recognition in Max. "Logan?" she whispered.

"Yeah." He sank into the chair next to her. He pulled off his hat, revealing his normal, if not quite as spiky, hair.

"But... you're walking."

"Yeah. For some reason, my immune system stopped fighting the blood that you gave me. I've been walking for some time now."

"And Lily? How did you two- where...?"

"It was shortly after I left Seattle. I found her in an alley outside the house that Jondy put me in. I saw that she was wearing a gown like the one Jondy described Manticore's children in. I gave her some food and I talked to her. I said I knew some escaped X5s and I asked her what she was. After a lot of hesitation, she told me that she was an X7, recently escaped from Manticore. I took her in, started building my new life as a widower with a daughter to take care of. But meeting her made me start thinking more and more of you. Finally, I decided I couldn't live without seeing you again, even if you didn't know it was me." Logan paused. "I told Jondy about my plan. She said that if I felt I needed to risk my life, so be it, but she wasn't going down with me. I think she's been hiding from me ever since."

"That would probably explain why I haven't seen her recently either," Max said, staring at the table.

"Wait a minute. Max, how did you find out?"

"Lily did everything except just come out and tell me she was an X7. And with that little story you cooked up, I knew you had to be in on it too." Max paused, a thought popping into her head. "But why did you send me a photo of us here if you didn't want me to find out?"

"What photo?"

As usual, Lily interrupted their conversation by bursting into the club. She looked around for Max and Logan with a speed that dizzied most of the onlookers. She waved them over and waited impatiently for the few seconds it took them to comply.

"Lily, what's wrong?" Logan asked.

"It's Jondy. She's in trouble."

"What?" Max exclaimed, suddenly taking a personal interest in the conversation.

"Kevin's found her." Lily grabbed their hands and dragged them to the exit. She motioned for Max and Logan to get on Max's motorcycle. Lily herself pulled a bicycle out of the shadows. "I'll show you where she is."

Max and Logan looked to each other. Neither knew how she could keep up with them, let alone lead the way. Lily seemed to read their minds.

"Don't worry. I can keep up easily." She hopped on her bike and snapped her helmet into place. Max started up her motorcycle and made sure Logan was secure in his seat behind her.

Max nodded to Lily, motioning her to lead the way. Lily sped out of the "parking lot" and onto the road faster than Max's eyes could follow. Even with her genetically-enhanced eyes, Lily was just a blur that passed in the night. She revved her motorcycle and followed.

***

Jondy studied her surroundings. She was in a large warehouse, which was now surrounded at every window and door by Kevin's men. Kevin slowly approached her, his gun held out in front of him.

"Well, it's nice to see you again _sister_," he said sarcastically.

"Uh huh," she replied, taking another look at his troops.

"You don't trust me, do you?"

"Since when did Manticore start training X5s to use sarcasm as a tool?" Jondy asked. "And to answer your question, no I don't."

"Too bad," he muttered. "Remember, it didn't have to be like this." He shot at her, missing by a mere centimeter. She looked up at him defiantly.

"You're getting to be a bad shot."

"Tell me where they are!" Kevin demanded, his gun pointed at Jondy. "Do it and I might let you live."

"And what then? Send me back to Manticore? I don't think so."

"Well, you really don't have a choice. You're going to reindoctrinated when I bring you back in, but I don't _have_ to bring you back alive."

"Then don't." Jondy lunged at her sibling. His genetically-engineered reflexes pulled the trigger even as he pulled himself out of her way. The bullet drilled a neat hole in her chest but her momentum kept her going. She managed to get a hold on the gun and then turned it back on Kevin. With the last of her strength, she pulled the trigger.

His lifeless body collapsed to the hard concrete floor. Jondy followed, weak from the loss of blood. She knew that he hadn't hit her heart, had never meant to. He had known what she would do and had made it so that he could take her back to Manticore relatively easy. But his plan hadn't worked, he hadn't planned on her determination. However, Jondy wasn't the type that could stay mad at her siblings for long.

With her final breath, she whispered, "I forgive you, Kevin."

The troops paused. They hadn't planned on this happening. Kevin's second-in-command finally spoke up. "All right men, we're going to take their bodies back to Manticore."

There was an unspoken consent as the troops accepted him as their leader. They hadn't really liked a genetically-engineered _prototype_ leading them anyway, but being Manticore soldiers, they hadn't said anything. Now they were back to having a regular man lead them again. They would follow his orders.

There was a crash from the back of the warehouse. Two soldiers came flying through the air and the new team leader barely managed to duck in time. There were more crashes, then more unconscious men being hurled through the air at the soldiers that were still standing. Finally, in the middle of the warehouse, appeared a woman and a girl.

"Get them, tazers only." His soldiers lifted their guns and fired. Both of their targets moved out of the way well before they could be hit. The little girl turned and stuck her tongue out at the remnants of Kevin's men. However, they were busy scanning the room for the other, who had suddenly disappeared.

Lily ran at them and dove into the crowd of soldiers, her long legs knocking her opponents to the ground. The three that remained shot at her but missed as she pulled back into the shadows.

Max whistled to the men from her perch in the rafters. She pushed a heavy steel cylinder off the pipes that she was standing on. The men saw too late that it was attached by rope and was swinging right at them. They tried to get away but to no avail. 

Max laced the rope that was attached to her weapon through the pipes and used it to quickly lower herself to the ground. Lily and Logan came out of their places in in the shadows. They looked at Jondy's limp body sadly.

"What are we going to do Max?" Logan asked.

"Well, we're not going to let those goons wake up and take their bodies back to Manticore."

"Where can we bury them?"

"The forest," Lily said. "Unmarked graves. Then nobody from Manticore will ever find them."

Max nodded and picked up Kevin's body. Logan picked up Jondy's body and followed Max outside. Max put down her sibling's body and got onto her motorcycle. Lily managed to get Kevin in back of Max and make it look like he was just asleep. Max held his stiffening arms around her waist and cringed inwardly as she felt the blood from his wound starting to soak into her jacket.

"Stay here," she said. Lily nodded and retreated to Logan's side. "I'll be back for Jondy as soon as I can." With that, she started her motorcycle and rode it off into the night.

****

Epilogue

Max sat in her apartment, watching Lily reconstruct her motorcycle (and watching Original Cindy watch the little girl) out of the corner of her eye. Suddenly there was a knock at the door and Logan came in.

"Well, she left everything she had to me, but she gave me this letter for you." Logan handed her a sealed envelope with her name on it.

"_Dear Max,_" she read. "_If you're reading this, I've either died or disappeared. Either way, I want you to know that half of what I officially left to Logan is actually yours. I didn't want to take the chance in case someone put two and two together. I hope that you are able to stay away from Manticore. Be careful little sister. Remember, you now have both Logan and Lily to look out for. Jondy._"

One tear managed to escape its cage and slide down Max's cheek. Logan sat down beside her and Original Cindy reached out her hand for the letter. Max handed it over and Original read it quickly.

"Lily," she whispered. Lily's head shot up. "Come on." Lily walked over to the door, managing to get to it before Cindy even though she was farther away.

After they were gone Logan wrapped Max in a tight hug. She hugged him back, almost crushing him with her superior strength. They stayed that way for the next hour, just thinking about the woman who had reappeared and then disappeared from their lives so quickly.

*Well, that's it. I doubt I'll be writing any more, unless I get specific requests for it. But I am begging PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!


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